High speed labeling device



Dec. 8, 1970 K. DULLINGER 3,546,047

I I 7 HIGH SPEED LABELING DEVICE Filed March 4, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVINT'Q n KRRL DUAAINGJIE United States Patent Oflice US. Cl. 156-571 7Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to anautomatic labeling machine having a label magazine, a rotary labelingcylinder for applying labels to containers and a label transfermechanism for tranferring labels from the magazine to the rotarylabeling cylinder. The transfer mechanism comprises a series of rotarylabel transfer shoes and a rotating shoe carrier on which the shoesorbit past the magazine and labeling cylinder to sequentially roll overthe foremost label in the magazine to pick said foremost label out ofthe magazine and roll past the rotary labeling cylinder in the course oftransferring the said label thereto. The disclosure improves on theprior art by varying the speed of rotation of said shoes to match shoesurface speed respectively to the label magazine and to the labelingcylinder surface speed as the shoe respectively coacts therewith. Theimprovement comprises variable speed gear transmission to each shoe.Each transmission has an adjustable gear carrier, the movement of whichvaries the speed of shoe rotation. A cam follower is connected to eachgear carrier and follows a cam having a profile along the shoe carrierorbit to produce shoe speed variations as required to match shoe surfacespeed respectively to the label magazine and to the labeling cylinder.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In high speed labeling machines having astationary label magazine and rotating label applying cylinder, bothadjacent the orbit of rotating label transfer shoes, it is desirable tovary the speed of shoe rotation in order to match the shoe surface speedto the relative speed of the label magazine and the labeling cylinder atthe time of transfer of labels therebetween. The stationary labelmagazine has zero speed and the cylinder has a relatively high speed, inorder to match the speed of containers conveyed thereby. The prior arthas developed various types of mechanism for changing the speed ofrotation of the shoes at various places around their orbits for speedmatching purposes, as above mentioned. These prior art mechanismsinclude lever systems, free rotating shoes, etc., but have limitedapplication, because they are not adapted to high speed labelingmachines. The lever systems unbalance the machine and the mass andmomentum of the various parts restrict rapid changes in shoe speedwithin the time span available for required speed changes.

Machines of the character just mentioned, moreover, typically havegluing belts by which glue is applied to the shoes. Here again, it isdesirable to match the speed of rotation of the shoes to the surfacespeed of the belt so that the glue layer is rolled onto the shoesurface, without skidding of the shoe across the surfaces of the belt.At this point in the orbit of the shoes it is also necessary to vary thespeed for speed matching purposes, and this introduces furthercomplications into the machine structure, and particularly the movingparts thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, shoespeed is varied at appropriate places about the shoe orbit in a3,546,047 Patented Dec. 8, 1970 mechanism having minimum problems ofstatic and dynamic unbalance. There is a variable speed transmission toeach shoe. This transmission includes an adjustable gear carrier havinga cam follower which follows the profile of a cam along the shoe carrierorbit, thus to produce slight swinging movements of the shoe carrierwith corresponding large speed variations in the shoe to respectivelymatch its speed to the label magazine, the labeling cylinder, and to thegluing belt. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the variablespeed transmission comprises a sun and planetary gear arrangement wheremost of the parts are internally balanced.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appearfrom the following disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view diagrammaticallyillustrating apparatus embodying the invention. Part of this view is cutaway to expose details of construction.

FIG. 2 is a view diagrammatically illustrating the profile of thecontrol cam.

FIG. 3 is a cross section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of a portion of FIG. 1, showing details ofthe roller which shapes the glue belt to the orbit of the shoes.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of modified embodiment and showing detailsof mechanism for transferring labels from an overwide label magazine tothe rotating shoes.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary elevation showing the label roll-on mechanism ofFIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Although the disclosure hereof isdetailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice theinvention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplifythe invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. Thescope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto.

As is typical in labeling machines of this type, there is a stationarylabel magazine 10, a labeling cylinder 11, and a gluing mechanism 9including the belt 12 clustered circumferentially about the circularorbit of a label transfer mechanism comprising a series of labeltransfer shoes or rollers 13 which are mounted on a rotating shoecarrier 14. Rotation of the carrier 14 will successively orbit the shoes13 from the glue belt 12 to the label magazine 10 to the labelingcylinder 11.

Adjacent the labeling cylinder 11 there is a conveyor belt 15 on whichcontainers 16 travel in the direction of arrow 17. Labels 18 withdrawnfrom magazine 10 are applied by cylinder 11 to the containers 16 in thecourse of machine operations. High speed container handling operationsrequires higher and higher speed travel of belt 17, and correspondinglyhigher speed operation of the label transfer mechanism. The labelingcylinder 11 is desirably of the construction shown in the copendingapplication of Karl Dullinger, Ser. No. 663,289, filed Aug. 25, 1967.

In other embodiments of the invention, the shoes 13 may be provided withvacuum ports by which the labels are picked out of the magazine 10 bysuction. In such embodiments, the glue mechanism 12 would be omitted.Ordinarily, however, the shoes 13 pick up a film of glue from the belt'12, and this glue is utilized to pick the foremost label 18 out of themagazine 10 and is also utilized to adhere the label to the container16.

The shoe carrier 14 has the cross section shown in FIG. 4 and is mountedon a shaft 21 which is rotatably supported in bearing 22 on a stationarytable 23. Table 23 also carries a stationary cam disk 24 and astationary sun gear 25.

The lower end of shaft 21 carries a gear 26 which meshes with a pinion27 on drive shaft 28. Rotation of drive shaft 28 will drive the shaft 21and rotate the shoe carrier 14.

Each shoe or roller 13 has a shaft 31 journaled for rotation in abearing 32 in the carrier 14. At its lower end each shaft 31 carries aplanet gear 33. Between sun gear and each of the planet gears 33 thereis a variable speed transmission which includes planet gears 34, 35, 36,and 37. Gears 34, 35 have their respective shafts 38, 39 mounted onlower branch 42 of the shoe carrier 14. Gears 36, 37 are spaced axiallyand are mounted on a common shaft 43 which is rotatably mounted on abearing 44 on a rocker 45 which constitutes an adjustable carrier forgears 36, 37 in the variable speed gear transmission 30. Rocker 45 ispivotally mounted on the hearing 46 on which it may swing about the axisof shaft 39.

Rocker 45 is caused to swing about the axis of the shaft 39 by a camfollower roller 47 which depends at the end of rocker 45 on shaft 48.Roller 47 is engaged in a cam groove 51 in the stationary cam disk orplate 24. Cam groove 51 has the profile shown in FIG. 3.

Shoe carrier 14 is rotated at a constant speed. The planet gears of thevariable speed transmission 30 between shoe gear 33 and sun gear 25 willcause the shoe 13 to rotate on the axis of its own shaft 31 as it isorbited by the rotating carrier 14 past the label magazine 10, labelingcylinder 11 and glue belt 12. However, when the profile of the camgroove 51 departs from a circular path, so as to move outwardly (as at52 in FIG. 3) the rocker 45 will swing about shaft 39 to accelerate thespeed of rotation of the shoe 13 in the direction of arrow 54. Thisincreases shoe surface speed in accordance with the slope of cam surface52. In the illustrated instance, shoe speed is increased to match thespeed of the rotating labeling cylinder 11. Where the cam groove issloped inwardly, for example, at in FIG. 2, the rocker is swung in theopposite direction to decelerate the speed of rotation of shoe 13.

Where the shoe 13 cooperates with the label cylinder 10 to remove theforemost label therefrom, the cam roller 47 is in the circular part ofthe cam groove 51, as shown at 53 in FIG. 2. At this point the shoe 13will rotate at a constant speed in the direction of arrow 54. Inasmuchas the shoes 13 rotate clockwise in the direction of arrow 54 and theshoe carrier 14 rotates counterclockwise in the direction of arrow 55,the counter-rotating outer surface of the shoe exactly cancels out theorbit speed of the carrier 14 so that the outer periphery of the shoe 13is traveling at zero speed relative to the foremost label 18 in themagazine 10. Thus the shoe 13 simply rolls across the foremost label topick it out, as shown in FIG.-l.

The increase in shoe rotating speed caused by the cam profile 52 (FIG.2) brings the shoe surface speed up to the rotating speed of thelabeling cylinder 11 which turns counterclockwise in the direction ofarrow 56 for smooth transfer of the label to the cylinder 11.

Glue belt or tape 12 is mounted on power driven end rollers 57 whichrotate counterclockwise in the direction of arrows 58. Glue is fed tothe belt 12 by apparatus not shown. Belt tension is maintained by anidler roller 61 pressed against the belt 12 by spring 62.

The cam groove 51 is provided adjacent the belt 12 with a shoe speedaccelerating profile portion 63, as shown in FIG. 3, thus to increaseshoe speed to match the speed of the inside run of the belt 12 so thatthere will be no relative sliding of the shoe roller on the belt. Bymatching shoe speed to belt speed a film of glue will be smoothly rolledonto the surface of the shoe.

Doctor blade 64 is desirably employed to doctor off excess glue from thebelt 12.

As best shown in FIG. 4, the glue belt 12 may be shaped to the shoecarrier orbit by means including a series of retractable pressurerollers 65 which are mounted between successive shoes 13. The belt 12 iselongated to insure application of glue to the entire periphery of theshoes 13. Each roller 65 is mounted on a lever 66 which pivots aboutpintle 69 and which has a cam follower roller 67 which follows a fixedcam surface 68 which is stationary on the machine. The cam 67 will pivotthe roller 65 outwardly against the pressure of spring 70, thus tocontour or shape the belt on a curved path generally corresponding tothe orbit of the shoes. Carrier 14 is provided with a slot 71 throughwhich the shaft of the roller 65 extend into its connection with thelever 66, to permit swinging the roller 65 in and out.

Roller 65 desirably consists of a series of disks 72 stacked in axiallyspaced relation on shaft 73, as shown in FIG. 3. This constructionlimits the area of contact of the roller 65 with the belt 12, forminimum disturbance of the glue pattern on the belt and shoe surface.

FIG. 5 shows an over size label magazine 74, the width B of which ismuch greater than the width of the normal label magazine 10, as shown inthe other figures. Magazine 74 is intended for wide labels for largercontainers, or for containers having larger labels. The orbit of theshoes 13 will disengage the pressure of the label magazine after onlyabout one-half S of the width B of the magazine has been traversed bythe shoe 13. Accordingly, as the shoe moves over the remaining one-halfS of the magazine 74, the magazine will not exert pressure on theforemost label 75 against the shoe as the shoe passes out of range ofthe magazine.

To insure smooth transfer and proper gluing of the label,notwithstanding this loss of contact, an auxiliary label pressure roller76 is provided. This roller desirably consists of a series of spaced,freely rotating disks 77 mounted on a common spindle 78. The lower endof the spindle is mounted on a lever 79 which may be pivotally mountedon shaft 73 of roller 65. Lever 79 has a cam 80 for pressing rollers 77against the label 75 and against the shoe 13 to insure complete transferof the label to the shoe.

If desired, shoe rollers 13 may have grooves 81 to transfer a stripepattern of glue onto the label backs.

I claim:

1. In an automatic labeling machine having a label magazine, a rotarylabeling cylinder for applying labels to containers and a label transfermechanism for transferring labels from the magazine to the rotarylabeling cylinder, said transfer mechanism comprising a series of rotarylabel transfer shoes and a rotating shoe carrier on which the shoesorbit past the magazine and labeling cylinder to sequentially roll overthe foremost label in the magazine to pick said foremost label out ofthe magazine and roll past the rotary labeling cylinder in the course oftransferring the said label thereto, the improvement for varying thespeed of rotation of said shoes to match shoe surface speed respectivelyto the label magazine and to the labeling cylinder surface speed as theshoe respectively coacts therewith and comprising a variable speed geartransmission to each shoe, said transmission having an adjustable gearcarrier the movement of which varies the speed of shoe rotation, a camfollower connected to said carrier and a cam having a profile along theshoe carrier orbit and with which the cam follower cooperates to produceshoe speed variations as required to match shoe surface speedrespectively to the label magazine and to the labeling cylinder as theshoe respectively cooperates therewith.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said machine also has a gluingmechanism past which the shoe carrier orbits the shoes, said gluingmechanism having a moving gluing surface, said cam having a profilewhich varies the speed of shoe rotation to match shoe surface speed togluing surface speed as the shoe cooperates with the gluing mechanism.

3. The invention of claim 1 in which the variable speed geartransmission has a stationary sun gear and a planet gear train, saidadjustable gear carrier comprising a planet gear support.

4. The invention of claim 1 in which the variable speed geartransmission has a stationary sun gear, a planet gear on each shoe, aplanet gear train meshing between the sun gear and the shoe gear, saidtrain comprising a pair of gears mounted on the same shaft, saidadjustable gear carrier comprising a rocker support for said shaft.

5. The invention of claim 2 in which the gluing mech anism comprises abelt with a run along the shoe carrier orbit, said shoe carrier beingprovided with a belt shaping roller between adajacent shoes and meansfor pressing the roller against the belt as the carrier orbits, thus toshape the belt to the shoe orbit.

6. The invention of claim 5 in which said means comprises a leversupport for said belt shaping roller, a cam mounted adjacent said beltand a cam follower on the lever to project the roller radially outwardlyagainst the inner run of the belt.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 5/1964 Germany "156-571 3/1967 Germanyl56568 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner J. M. HANLEY, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. l56568; 27141

